What Does Ezekiel 26:6 Mean in the King James?
And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The sword’s violence becomes the disclosure through which the daughters in the field recognize YHWH.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a severe truth in the present: the daughters in the field are slain by the sword, and through this violence they recognize that YHWH is LORD. Here knowing is recognition through encounter with judgment, not detached information.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This overturns the assumption that recognition of God comes only through comfort or explanation; here it follows devastating violence.
THE ROOT
יָדְעוּ
yādəʿū
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know, perceive, or recognize.
“know” in this verse is yādəʿū. In this verse, knowing is recognition that comes through an encounter, not information held at a distance. The verb keeps the daughters’ recognition joined to the violence that precedes it.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, perception
דַּעַת
This noun shows the wider field of the root: knowing includes perception and recognition.
hôdîaʿ: To make known, inform
הוֹדִיעַ
This causative form shows that something can be made known; here, recognition follows the event itself.
חֶרֶב
ḥerev
GROWS FROM
חרב
To dry up, become desolate, or lay waste.
The consonants ח־ר־ב in “sword” also appear in words for becoming desolate and for ruin. The verse’s instrument and the desolation it brings sound from the same field, keeping the physical violence in view.
ALSO GROWS
ḥārav: To dry up, become waste or desolate
חָרַב
This verb links the sword’s action with the ruined condition it leaves behind.
ḥorbah: Ruin, desolation
חָרְבָּה
This noun names the devastation that echoes in the consonants of “sword.”
THE PATTERN
When divine judgment becomes visible in action, recognition of the LORD follows.
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.THE THREAD
The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.Ezekiel’s יָדְעוּ (they shall know) and the psalm’s נוֹדָע (is known) come from ידע (yādaʿ), the root of knowing and recognizing. The psalm makes explicit what Ezekiel leaves in the sequence: recognition follows as judgment becomes visible.
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